Questions agents actually ask
Is this title insurance, or anything like it?
No. It is not a title product, does not insure anything, and creates no policy or indemnity. It is a compilation of public records about groundwater conditions relevant to a point, computed and graded under a published methodology. We deliberately stopped using the phrase "water title search" for exactly this reason: it was vivid and it implied a legal equivalence that does not exist.
Does it tell me whether the well will fail?
No, and any product that claims to is selling you something it cannot deliver. We document recorded conditions and margins as of the issue date. A margin is not a forecast — it is the distance between two published numbers. What that distance means for one specific well depends on its screen interval, pump setting, yield and drawdown, none of which live in a public dataset.
Can I put it in the disclosure packet?
Agents do, and it's a reasonable use — it supports what you disclose with dated, sourced records rather than recollection. But we are not your compliance advisor. California disclosure law turns on known and material facts, and what's material in your transaction is a question for your broker and your counsel.
What if there's no well record?
Then the report says so, in those words, on page one. A missing completion report is a finding — it means the state has no construction record for that well, which is itself material and which no one else will hand you. We print what is missing rather than omitting it, because silence reads as a clean record and it isn't one.
What if you can't answer for my parcel?
We tell you before you pay. Two cases: the record is too thin to support any finding — we flag it and don't score it — or the parcel is well-monitored but no adopted threshold falls within range, so the headline comparison can't be made there. Both are disclosed at intake.
Why only California and Arizona?
Because those are the two states whose public groundwater records currently support the report we're willing to stand behind. California basins publish management data including, in many cases, adopted thresholds — a stated depth the plan permits water to fall to — and where those exist near a parcel we place them in context. Arizona supports a reduced form from its own well and water-level records. We could produce a trend-only report elsewhere; it would be a materially weaker document, and we'd rather say that than sell it.
How current is it?
Every value is drawn live on the day the report issues, with its own date printed beside it. Groundwater readings are not uniform — a station's latest measurement might be from last month or from 2022, and we print which. That unevenness is a fact about the public record, not something to smooth over.
What happens if you get something wrong?
We reissue a corrected bundle with a plain-language note, notify every reader, and preserve the original unaltered. Publicly. The correction protocol is printed on page two of every report.
Can I use this in escrow?
Agents do. It's a dated, sourced record that travels with the file and can be re-sent at resale or in a dispute. What's material in your transaction, and what you're obliged to disclose, is a question for your broker and your counsel — not for us.
How is this different from a well test?
Completely. A well test measures that well — yield, drawdown, water quality — by putting instruments on it. We read the public record around it: construction records, nearby monitoring, basin context, published management data. Neither substitutes for the other, and our report tells you which tests are worth ordering.
What does confidence mean?
It describes how much record stands behind the finding, not how likely the finding is to come true. High means the condition is supported by recent documentation and does not materially conflict with other records. Moderate means it's plausible and partially supported, but independent verification is limited. Low and very low mean the support is thin — and below our threshold we flag the report and decline to score it.